I don’t know if you’ve ever seen these trees that have tiny seed pods that look like little maces or not, but they were my favorite tree as a kid. I remember we would throw them at each other and they would stick to absolutely everything… your shirt, your backpack, your hair, anything. Everytime I see one, they make me smile.

I didn’t bother until now to look up to see what kind of tree makes these little seed pods. Apparently, it’s a Sweetgum Tree. Who knew?

A little Allen’s trying to show off to all the other birds and tell them who’s boss. Unfortunately, no matter how much spunk this little guy has, I don’t think any of the other birds are paying attention.

This was my second bird count at the Buena Vista Lagoon. There was a great turn out of people compared to last time. Unfortunately, it was really gray and gloomy so there weren’t many birds. We ended up with 49 species compared to last month’s 50, which is great but there just weren’t as many of each species out and about.

Despite the fewer bird numbers, we still had a great time. We met lots of cool new people and I finally learned how to tell the different between a Western Gull and a California Gull so I can’t wait to go to beach. Hope you enjoy the pics and here is a quick video I took of the Snowy Egret.